MacRumors

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.2.5 update to developers for testing purposes, a little over one week after releasing the tvOS 11.2 update.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 11.2.5 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode.

We don't yet know what features or changes might be included in the 11.2.5 update, but it likely focuses primarily on bug fixes and performance improvements rather than major outward-facing changes.

The prior update, tvOS 11.2, allows the 4K Apple TV to automatically switch video display modes to match the native frame rate and dynamic range of video content. It also introduced a new Sports section for the dedicated TV app, offering up access to live sports games.

Apple today released a new update for tvOS 11, the operating system designed to run on the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TVs. tvOS 11.2.1 comes a little over one week after the release of the tvOS 11.2 update.

tvOS 11.2.1 can be downloaded over the air through the Settings app on the Apple TV by going to System --> Software Update. Apple TV owners who have automatic software updates turned on will be upgraded to the tvOS 11.2.1 automatically.

As a minor 11.x.x update tvOS 11.2.1 focuses on performance improvements and bug fixes to address issues that were discovered following the release of tvOS 11.2. The update, released alongside iOS 11.2.1, likely re-enables remote access for shared users of the Home app.

Apple disabled remote access for shared users when implementing a server-side fix for a major HomeKit vulnerability last week. Apple at the time said remote access would be re-enabled this week through software updates.

Following today’s tvOS 11.2.1 update, the HomeKit vulnerability is fully patched and remote access for shared users has been reinstated.

Streaming music service Tidal is facing money problems and could run out of working capital within the next six months, according to a report this week by Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (via The Verge). The report stated that the money issues likely stem from Tidal's user growth, which is said to have "stalled" recently.

Sprint bought a 33 percent stake in Tidal this past January, and at the time Jay Z’s business partner and Roc Nation Sports president Juan Perez mentioned that the carrier's investment gave Tidal "sufficient working capital for the next 12-18 months." The Jay Z owned service is said to have lost around NOK$368 million (around $44 million) before taxes in 2016, and Tidal reportedly claims that it will break even and achieve profitability in mid-2018.

Regarding the new claim of Tidal's money and subscriber problems, a company spokesperson told The Verge the following: "We have experienced negative stories about Tidal since its inception and we have done nothing but grow the business each year."

It isn't clear exactly how many people are subscribed to Tidal since the service has refrained from releasing such a count following the Sprint deal. At that time, Dagens Næringsliv again reported on Tidal, this time focusing on a claim that it was inflating subscriber numbers as far back as when Jay Z acquired it in 2015. The newspaper said it obtained internal reports from Tidal that showed it had 350,000 subscribers in September 2015, at which time Jay Z said it had gained 1 million subscribers.

Subsequent inflation numbers surfaced in March 2016, and afterwards the company hasn't provided any data regarding the amount of its subscriber base. As a point of comparison, Spotify remains in the lead for music streaming services with over 60 million paid subscribers as of July, while Apple Music follows with over 30 million as of September.

Gamevice, a company that makes a Made for iPhone/iPad gaming controller for iOS devices, today announced that its partnership with Sphero has expanded, allowing the Gamevice gaming controller to be used with Sphero droids.

Starting today, the Gamevice, which already works with the Sphero app, can be used to pilot the BB-9E, BB-8, and R2D2 from Sphero, giving droid owners a better control method than the iPhone's display. Gamevice previously announced integration with the DJI app, allowing the DJI Spark to be controlled via a Gamevice controller, and it already works with the Sphero SPRK+.

"We chose to lower the price to $79.95 as demand for Gamevice has increased due to the fact that it can now be used for more than just gaming," said Phillip Hyun, CEO, Gamevice. "Gamevice not only makes gaming on smartphones better, but it adds precision control to app controlled gadgets such as Sphero's app-enabled droids and DJI's Spark Drone, with more on the way."

The Gamevice works with more than 1,000 iOS games, including several games optimized for iPhone X like Lineage 2, The Talos Principle, and Grid Autosport.

The GV 157, which works with the iPhone 6 Plus and all subsequent iPhones released by Apple (with the exception of the iPhone SE), can be purchased from the Gamevice website for $79.95. There are also Gamevice controllers available for the various iPads, which are priced at $99.95.

Nintendo is looking to hire more software developers to help it create mobile video games in the vein of Super Mario Run and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. According to people familiar with the matter speaking with The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo has decided to expand its roster of smartphone game developers after its partnership with DeNA "fell behind schedule."

Nintendo and DeNA first announced their partnership in March 2015, and then a few months later in May 2015 explained their schedule: the companies would release their first iOS game that year, and then five more before March 2017. By October 2015, the first Nintendo mobile app -- Miitomo -- was pushed back to 2016, marking the first delay of the company's long term smartphone strategy release plan.

Eventually, Miitomo launched in March 2016, Super Mario Run launched in December 2016, Fire Emblem Heroes launched in February 2017, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp just launched in November 2017. Besides Super Mario Run, every mobile game released by Nintendo and made by DeNA was delayed at some point.

Now, Nintendo is looking to introduce new collaborations with other software developers and "raise the pace of new titles" so that these games don't face as heavy delays as they did previously. While Nintendo took a 10 percent ownership stake in DeNA when it partnered with the company, sources knowledgeable of the new plan stated that it "isn't planning" to do that again with any new developer partners.

Nintendo reported less than ¥20 billion ($176 million) in revenue in the year ended in March 2017 from its smartphone games, including one featuring Mario. Some investors say the mobile revenue has fallen short of expectations, but Nintendo executives say that rather than try to squeeze out more mobile revenue—which could lead to a consumer backlash—they are focusing on converting those users to buy more expensive products.

Potential new developers include GungHo Online Entertainment Inc., which created the mobile game Puzzle & Dragons. For DeNA, company CEO Isao Moriyasu has previously said that the developer "has more smartphone games in the pipeline" in partnership with Nintendo, and both companies plan to "continue the relationship."

Free third-party fitness app Workouts++ got its 2.0 release on Tuesday, bringing a wealth of new features and improvements to the software, almost a year after its debut on iOS and Apple Watch.

Users looking for an alternative to the native watchOS Workout app should find plenty to pique their interest in this update, which makes the most of new APIs available since the release of watchOS 4 and features a redesigned workout configuration system.

Highlights include the ability to download podcasts to Apple Watch for playback during workouts, support for LTE streaming, GPS tracking and mapping, as well as Siri integration and a plethora of watch display customization options.

The app also gains support for swimming and the display of VO2 Max values, additional stopwatch, elevation, average pace/speed and activity ring metrics for display during workouts, distance and duration alerts, plus a workout recovery feature in the event that the device's battery runs out during exercise.

Workouts++ is a free download for iPhone from the App Store.

Popular to-do app Things reached version 3.3 today and gained a new feature that enables users to generate to-dos from anywhere by sending an email to their Things Cloud account.

Previously, Things offered four ways to add to-dos: Quick Entry, Siri, 3D Touch, and the Add to Things extension. However, the limitation of these methods is that they're only available from within the Apple ecosystem. To make the process of adding tasks more accessible and convenient, Mail to Things allows users to send emails to a special private address, which automatically converts them into to-dos and adds them to their Things task list.

The Mail to Things feature basically lets users add a "Quick Entry" when they're using other platforms, such as their Windows PC at work, or an Android phone. It also gives them the option of sharing their @things.email address with a partner or colleague for delegating to-dos.

To enable the new feature on the Things mobile app, open Settings, located at the bottom of the interface, and toggle on the Mail to Things option, after which a private @things.email address will be generated. The same option can be found on macOS within Things' preference pane.

Emails sent to the address are converted into to-dos and placed into the user's Inbox in Things. The main rule to remember when sending messages to the Things Cloud is that the email's subject becomes the to-do's title, and the rest goes into the notes. (At present, there's no way to set tags or any other metadata via email.)

A few other things are worth noting. If an email is longer than 2,000 characters, it will be truncated by Things. Also, the app only supports plain text, so any formatting in emails will be lost. Lastly, file attachments are not supported and will be ignored.

In addition to the feature's basic functionality, Mail to Things also creates new opportunities for workflows that involve sending emails. With apps and services such as Workflow, IFTTT, and Zapier, users can build workflows that create to-dos automatically. A few examples using Workflow include sending to-dos to Things, copying the clipboard to Things, and dictating to Things.

Things 3 can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $49.99 and from the iOS App Store. The iPad version is priced at $19.99 [Direct Link] while the iPhone version (which includes Apple watch support) is priced at $9.99. [Direct Link] A 15-day trial of Things for Mac is available on the Cultured Code website.

There's no official way to get iMessages on a non-iOS device like an Android smartphone, but a new Android app aims to provide a workaround, at least temporarily. weMessage is designed to allow you to get iMessages on an Android device, but for it to work, a Mac is required.

weMessage uses a weServer app on a Mac, which takes iMessages that are delivered to a Mac and forwards them to an Android smartphone or tablet. As described by the developer on reddit, the weServer app acts as a bridge between a Mac and an Android device, using Accessibility features to tap into Apple's Messages app for the Mac.

weMessage works by using Apple's developer tools that hook into the Messages app, as well as by turning on Accessibility features that will perform the message sending. There was zero reverse engineering involved in the creation of this app, so all messages being sent are legitimate. In addition, I believe this implementation is fair, as you still need to have an Apple device to use iMessage, but it is merely being extended to all devices.

According to the developer, all iMessage features are supported, including group chats, attachments, notifications, Do Not Disturb, content blocking, and more, with notifications enabled by sending messages to the Google Firebase platform.

It's likely Apple will require the developer to shutter the app, and it may soon be removed from the Google Play Store, but in the meantime, it's available for any Android users who also have a Mac and want to experiment with iMessage.

There have been rumors suggesting Apple has considered an iMessage app for Android devices, and Apple even reportedly created detailed mockups of what such an app might look like, but there has not been concrete evidence that an Android iMessage app has ever been in the works.

Apple execs are said to believe that iMessage, as a "superior messaging platform," helps to spur iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales, suggesting iMessage is not likely to expand beyond Apple's devices anytime soon.

The developer behind weMessage was originally charging $2.99, but it's now available to download for free.

Apple's original content video team continues to grow with the addition of two recently hired TV veterans who will handle business affairs for the division, reports Variety.

Philip Matthys, who previously worked for Hulu, and Jennifer Wang Grazier, who was with Legendary Entertainment, have both joined Apple. Matthys was hired last month, and Wang Grazier, who will report to Matthys, will start in January.

Wang Grazier served as EVP, Business and Legal Affairs at Legendary, overseeing business and legal aspects related to TV and digital studios development. Wang Grazier worked on shows that include USA's "Colony," Netflix's "Love and Lost in Space," Hulu's "The Looming Tower," and Amazon's "Carnival Row."

Apple began building its new video division in June of 2017 with the hiring of Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, two former Sony executives who now report to Apple senior vice president of internet software and services Eddy Cue. Erlicht and Van Amburg helped produce shows like "Breaking Bad," "Better Caul Saul," "The Crown," and more.

Erlicht and Amburg have made several hires since then, bringing on Matt Cherniss in August and former Amazon Studios executive Morgan Wandell in October, Michelle Lee just this month, and several other experienced TV execs over the last few months.

Apple's video team is has so far inked deals for two shows, including a reboot of Steven Spielberg's sci-fi series "Amazing Stories" and an untitled "morning show drama" that will star Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston.

This week, popular used electronics seller Gazelle has launched a few promos that will last until tomorrow, December 13, which is also the last date that you can order from the company and receive free shipping that will arrive in time for Christmas. Gazelle is marking down all Apple products by $25, as well as $10 off all other products, allowing you to purchase used iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks at a slight discount.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

The offer is applied automatically when you add any Apple product to your cart, and it even applies to Apple devices within Gazelle's clearance tab. We've listed a few of the older Apple products you can purchase on Gazelle down below, but many others have already sold out due to popularity of carrier, color, or storage capacity. Be sure to head over to the company's website to browse its full selection before the discount and Christmas delivery guarantee end tomorrow.

• iPhone SE 64GB AT&T (Gold/Good Condition) - $264.00, down from $289.00
• iPhone 6 64GB Unlocked (Silver/Good Condition) - $284.00, down from $309.00
• iPhone 7 128GB Unlocked (Jet Black/Fair Condition) - $504.00, down from $529.00
• 13-inch MacBook Air, Mid 2011, 1.8GHz, 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD (Excellent Condition) - $634.00, down from $659.00
• 9.7-inch iPad Pro 32GB WiFi (Silver/Good Condition) - $404.00, down from $429.00

There are a few other notable deals going on this week, including up to $100 in savings on various Sonos speakers over at Amazon. Specifically, the Play:1 is at $147.00, down from $199.99; the Play:3 is at $249.00, down from $299.99; and the Playbar is at $629.00, down from $699.00. There are even a few bundles, where you can get 2 Play:1 speakers for $298.00, down from $398.00, so be sure to check out Sonos' Amazon storefront for all of the deals.

Drone maker DJI has also opened up its holiday sale with up to 30 percent off select drones and other products. These include the Mavic Pro Fly More Combo for $1,149, down from $1,299; as well as the Osmo Mobile for $199, down from $299. If you're specifically looking for the DJI Spark, B&H Photo has the drone for $349 (compared to DJI's $399 sale price), and you get a $50 B&H Photo e-gift card as well.

Check out DJI's Winter Holiday Sale page for the full list of drones, camera gimbals, and other accessories on sale.

If you're thinking about buying Apple accessories for anyone on your holiday shopping list, MacRumors still has its exclusive deals with Nomad and Pad & Quill ongoing through December 18 and December 21, respectively. Visit our Deals Roundup for detailed information on those promo codes and more sales happening this week.